Sauber: Fourth place tough this year

The team got off to a bad start to 2002 in Australia two weeks ago when Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa failed to score after getting caught in the first corner carnage in which eight cars were eliminated.

The Swiss squad were the surprise of the field last year managing to beat better-funded outfits, including Jordan and British American Racing to fourth place in the standings - a task Sauber believes will hard to achieve again.

Sauber said: "Australia was a disaster for us. After 20 seconds, both cars were damaged. It was very, very bad. I think the performance is okay. It was okay during the tests and also during qualifying. It was better than the year before. But it will be very, very hard to keep this fourth place. I think it's more difficult than the last year."

Sauber's comments come ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix where he will be hoping his young drivers Nick Heidfeld and rookie Felipe Massa can get off the mark in the points tables.

Heidfeld and Massa's Oz accidents are said to have caused £375,000 of damage to their C21s, which along with two pre-season testing smashes could hamper the team's progress, according to Sauber.

"I think for a small team it's very difficult," he said. "You have this big accident at the beginning of the season, and not only the cost is important, but the spare parts as well, because we had two accidents during the last test at Mugello."